President Donald Trump’s tax records show he has pursued expansive business projects in China for years and even maintains a Chinese bank account, The New York Times reported Tuesday, disclosures that deal a blow to the President’s efforts to paint Democratic nominee Joe Biden as the presidential candidate who is soft on China.
An analysis of Trump’s tax records by the Times shows that the President holds a previously unreported bank account in China that was not included on his public financial disclosures because it is held under a corporate name.
The Chinese account, the newspaper said, is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management and it paid $188,561 in taxes in the country from 2013 to 2015.
Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten, who refused to name the Chinese bank that holds the account, told the Times in a statement that the Trump Organization “opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes” tied with its push to do business in the country.
While Trump has sought to paint Biden as weak on China throughout the general election, his own financial ties to the country stand in stark contrast with the former vice president, whose income tax returns and financial disclosures show no business dealings or income from China.
The new details gleaned from Trump’s tax records build on a previous New York Times report that detailed how the President paid no federal income taxes whatsoever in 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000 because he reported losing significantly more than he made